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30 Mar 2014

Idina Menzel

Photo by Joan Marcus

Tony winner Idina Menzel stars as a woman who journeys down two possible roads to self discovery in the new Broadway musical If/Then, created by Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning Next to Normal writers Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey. Opening on Broadway is March 30 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre.

Next to Normal and Rent director Michael Greif helms the production that played an out-of-town tryout at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. last fall. Produced by David Stone (Wicked, Next to Normal), If/Then began Broadway previews March 5.

If/Then has music by Kitt, with book and lyrics by Yorkey. The writers earned the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize for penning Next to Normal. An original Broadway cast recording will be released June 3.

If/Then has musical direction by Carmel Dean and orchestrations by Tony Award winner Michael Starobin, who previously collaborated with Kitt on Next to Normal.

"Art is literally imitating life for me," confessed Menzel, who plays the central role of Elizabeth, a woman on the cusp of 40, who returns to New York City to start fresh. "Without going into my personal life too much, I'm definitely going through some major personal things and have to rethink all of the choices I've made and think about starting over...

"Sometimes, it's probably too close to home," she continued. "I [have to] just focus on the make-believe and the fiction, so I can serve the piece better, but it's just funny how the universe brings things into your life, so that you can either learn from it or have some way of expressing what you're going through — a place to express that [and] people to support you. I find it pretty uncanny."

According to the creators, "If/Then is an original musical set at the intersection of choice and chance, where the road you takes meets the road you didn't. Tony Award winner Menzel makes her much-anticipated return to the stage in this contemporary new musical as Elizabeth, a woman rebuilding her life in New York, a city of infinite possibilities."